Bethersden Kent Family History Guide

Bethersden is an Ancient Parish in the county of Kent.

Alternative names:

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1556
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1563

Nonconformists include: Baptist and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BETHERSDEN, a village and a parish in West Ashford district, Kent. The village stands 2 miles S of Pluckley r. station, and 5 ½ WSW of Ashford; and has a post office under Staplehurst, and a fair on 31 July.

The parish comprises 6,345 acres. Real property, £5,127. Pop., 1,124. Houses, 237. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to the Grensteads; and passed to the Lovelaces. A marble here, now little worked, and consisting almost wholly of minute freshwater shells, was formerly in great request for monumental sculptures and the decoration of cathedrals.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £165. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of Tudor date, and in good condition.

There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, a national school, and an education charity.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Parish Records

FamilySearch

England, Kent, Bethersden – Census ( 1 )
Census returns for Bethersden, 1841-1891
Author: Great Britain. Census Office

England, Kent, Bethersden – Church records ( 4 )
Archdeacon’s transcripts, 1563-1812; Bishop’s transcripts, 1611-1885
Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Bethersden

Bethersden (Kent) parish register extracts, 1557-1812
Author: Tyler, Frank Watt

Churchwardens’ accounts of Betrysden [Bethersden], 1515-1573
Author: Mercer, Francis R.

Parish registers
Author: Kent Family History Society; Kent Family History Society. Global Branch (England)

England, Kent, Bethersden – Land and property ( 8 )
Deed of Bethersden, 1628

Deeds of Bethersden and Kingsnorth 1791-1939

Deeds of Bethersden and Kingsnorth, 1406-1864

Deeds of Bethersden, 1837-1898

Deeds of Bethersden, Willesborough and Pluckley, 1699-1708

Deeds of Goudhurst, 1549-1791

Exemplification of Recovery, 1597-8

Quitclaim of Bartholomew Fowle, 1623

England, Kent, Bethersden – Taxation ( 1 )
Land tax assessments for Bethersden, 1780-1831
Author: Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Kent); Kent Archives Office

Administration

  • Civil Registration District: West Ashford
  • Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Canterbury
  • Diocese: Canterbury
  • Rural Deanery: Pre-1864 – Charing, Post-1863 – West Charing
  • Poor Law Union: West Ashford
  • Hundred: Chart and Longbridge
  • Province: Canterbury